CSS Shenandoah

This week's ship is arguably the second most famous Confederate raider after the CSS Alabama, and the only Confederate ship to circumnavigate the world: the CSS Shenandoah.



Stats from the US Navy:

Launched: August 1963 (as the HMS Sea King)
Commissioned: 19 October, 1964
Decommissioned: 6 November, 1865
Length: 230 ft
Beam: 32 ft
Draught: 20 ft 6 inches
Displacement: 1160 tons
Compliment: 109
Speed: 9 kts under steam
Rig: Ship rigged
Power Plant: steam engine and single shaft
Armament: 4 8" smoothbore cannon
2 32 pound rifled cannon
2 12 pound cannon

Prior to her historic voyage as the CSS Shenandoah, the ship she would become was known as the HMS Sea King and was designed as a British Troop Transport. On 8 October, 1864, the Sea King set sail in theory for British India, however she secretly rendezvoused with a Confederate steamer in the Madeiras Islands, off the coast of Africa, where she received her armaments and a portion of her crew, and was transformed from transport to cruiser-raider. Her commanding officer, Lieutenant James I. Waddell, oversaw her conversion, and after assembling a scant half crew from volunteers from the original crew of the former Sea King and from the Confederate steamer, commissioned the ship the CSS Shenandoah.

The plan drawn up by the Confederate Navy Department was for the Shenandoah to travel around the Cape of Good Hope and through the Indian Ocean, and raid the formerly safe waters of the Pacific Ocean, concentrating on American whaling ships, and merchant ships in trade with Africa. By early 1865, she had crossed the South Atlantic and Indian oceans, taking several prizes, and burning the majority of them. Arriving in the Pacific, the Shenandoah docked in Melbourne, Australia, to take on additional crew and supplies. Waddell then headed north across the Pacific, wreaking havoc on the American whaling fleet, especially in the region along the Bearing Strait just south of the Arctic circle. After capturing (and burning the majority of) 21 prizes, on his run south along the coast of Latin America, Waddell recieved news on 2 August from a British ship about the American Civil War's termination some four months prior. At that date, the crew of the Shenandoah removed all traces of her being a Confederate warship, including dismounting all guns and painting the ship to look like a merchant vessel. She continued around Cape Horn, and on November 6th, 1865, Waddell and crew entered Liverpool, Great Britian, and surrendered to the British, thus ending the career of the only Confederate warship to circumnavigate the globe.

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The Mayflower II

This week's ship I'm going to do a little differently; I had a chance to visit the actual ship, so I'm going to take you on a photo tour of the vessel. But first, a little background information:

The Mayflower II was conceived of and built in 1955 - 1957, as a gift from Britain to America as a symbol of wartime cooperation between the two nations. It was built in Devonshire, England, in as traditional method as possible, including hemp cordage and hand drawn iron nails. She was sailed from England to Britain in the spring of 1957, on a slightly more south but otherwise accurate route that the original Mayflower would have sailed. The ship is still seaworthy and occasionally makes voyages for important functions.

The Mayflower II at dock


Bow view. Notice the length of the bowsprit and the spritsail yard, which are both indicative of a ship of this period, as over the course of the next century, the spritsail would be done away with and the bowsprit shortened considerably.

The Fo'c's'le. Notice the mounting of the fore chains to the hull below the fo'c's'le deck, and the short distance between that and the bowsprit.

The main deck, or spar deck, looking forward

The main deck, or spar deck, looking aft. The helm lies in the alcove center aft on the deck, with the great cabin behind.

The helm alcove. The grating in the foreground leads belowdeck, and the whipstaff, the intermediate helm design between a tiller and a wheel, lies directly behind the interpretor.

Belowdecks forward: The cable tier

Belowdecks midships: passenger stalls.

Belowdecks aft. Notice the simple joint between the whipstaff and the rudder, as well as the relieving tackle which would be manned in the advent of heavy weather to augment the helmsman above. While it is unknown if the Mayflower was armed, were she, she would have most likely carried 9 pounders such as the one above mounted as a stern chaser.

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NOAAS Delaware II

I apologize for the lack of a post this past week folks; I have been having pretty serious computer and network issues; it resulted in me having to re-install my operating system which was a pain. But I'm back and up and running with this week's ship: The NOAAS Delaware II, who I was fortunate to be able to visit this week.




Stats from the NOAA site for the Deleware II:

Launched: December 1967
Commissioned: 12 March, 1975
Length: 155 ft
Beam: 30 ft
Draught: 16.6 ft
Displacement: 897 tons
Compliment: 10 crew, 14 scientists max
Speed: 10 kts
Power Plant: 1200 HP GM geared diesel

The NOAAS Deleware II is a Fisheries Research Vessel for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), a component of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), homeported in Woods Hole, MA. Commissioned in 1975, the Deleware II underwent servicing and upgrades in 1996 which allowed her the capability to operate well into the 21st century. She is currently slated to be decomissioned and replaced in the next 5 years.

The Deleware II is utilized to provide research on a variety of fisheries along the North East coast of the United States, specializing in Georges Bank, off the coast of Cape Cod. She posesses a stern trawl with a variety of nets for research catching, as well as an acoustic profiler and Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) in order to provide scientists with information regarding both fish concentrations and information about currents. She is usually deployed for 2 to 3 week cruises, during which her range allows her to conduct research on fisheries from the coast of main down to the northern coast of North Carolina.

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